Tamil businessman shot dead in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 June 2006, 16:40 GMT]Two armed men who came in a motorbike entered a crowded liquor restaurant in Kommathurai, 16 km northwest of Batticaloa, shot and killed the business owner, Iyathurai Nirmalakumaran, 55, Tuesday around 7:00 p.m., Eravur Police said. The killers were Karuna Group paramilitary cadres, who had been demanding money from the businessman, according to civilian sources in Kommathurai.

The victim, Mr. Nirmalakumaran, born in Kopay, Jaffna, was a resident of Kalkudah Road, for 30 years.

Nirmalkumaran, a father of four, was running the liquor restaurant in Kommathurai near the Eastern University in Vantharumoolai for several years, civilian sources said.

He was shot three time in the head and the chest with a 9 mm handgun, Police said.

The body has been taken to Eravur Hospital mortuary for postmortem examinations.